Chehalem Pinot noir Reserve 04 |
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Previous vintage tasting notes: The Wine Advocate 92 points June 2006: ...This terrific wine's aromas display spicy black fruits and candied red berries. Suave, satin-textured, and broad, it is powerful, exceptionally well-balanced (with 15.4% alcohol, no less!), and intense. This deeply concentrated wine is loaded with fruit and seemingly never stops expanding on the palate. Its red cherry and blackberry flavors linger throughout its angle-free, lengthy finish. Drink this beauty over the next 10 years. Wine Spectator 90 points: Ripe and rich...fleshy with black cherry, kirsch, peppermint and a touch of game as the finish persists impressively. Has fine tannins and should age smoothly. Rich, lush, from a hot vintage mamaged well. |
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Detailed Info, Previous Vintage Notes, Reviews: |
| The Wine Advocate, June 2006, Pierre Rovani: 92. ...This terrific wine's aromas display spicy black fruits and candied red berries. Suave, satin-textured, and broad, it is powerful, exceptionally well-balanced (with 15.4% alcohol, no less!), and intense. This deeply concentrated wine is loaded with fruit and seemingly never stops expanding on the palate. Its red cherry and blackberry flavors linger throughout its angle-free, lengthy finish. Drink this beauty over the next 10 years. Wine Spectator, December 31, 2005, Harvey Steiman: 90. Ripe and rich...fleshy with black cherry, kirsch, peppermint and a touch of game as the finish persists impressively. Has fine tannins and should age smoothly. Pinot Report, December 15, 2005: 93. Medium-deep ruby purple color; deep earthy aromas dominate the nose, some fruit underneath; deep, rich, good berry fruit, earthy, forest floor notes; toasty oak, moderate tannin; good structure and balance; long finish. A big style of Pinot but everything is also in balance. International Wine Cellar, May/June 2005, "Focus on Oregon Pinot Noir," Josh Raynolds: 90. Very fresh, red color. Bright, finely focused red berry aromas, with a mineral tone. Loaded with bright, fresh, vivid raspberry and wild strawberry flavors, with an almost salty mineral tang. Very fresh and stylish, with gentle, well-judged oak spice on the long, clean finish. 2002 Reserve Tasting Notes Wine Spectator says: "Firm and refined, a remarkable, gracedul red, with well-modulated currant, red berry, bay leaf and spice flavors that persist on the fine-grained finish. Best from 2006 through 2010." H.S. Wine Advocate (Parker) rating 93 points!Wine Advocate says: "Formerly known as Rion Reserve, the 2002 Reserve is produced entirely from Ridgecrest Vineyards fruit. Medium to dark ruby-colored amd sporting a nose of gorgeously sweet red cherries, this medium to full bodied wine is rich, precise, bold, and elegant. Loads of red cherries, blackberries, kirsch, and notes of blueberries can be found in its well-defined personality. Concentrated and exceptionally well-balanced, this wine also appears to be holding a good deal in reserve. Projected maturity, now through 2014. Bravo!"Tanzer 91: "Light, hazy red. Emphatic, juicy, high-pitched aromas of red berry, fresh cranberry and pomegranate, complicated by a candied rose petal note. In the mouth, this opulent pinot shows vibrant, intense raspberry and wild strawberry flavors and finishes with a rather delicate, sappy quality. The wine's bright red berry flavors call to mind an excellent Chambolle-Musigny." From the winery: "We look for this wine to embody the essence of pinot noir. Select barrels and fermentation lots are chosen from Ridgecrest Vineyards before any blending is done in the cellar. We choose components to make a wine that epitomizes finesse, elegance, complexity, textural silkiness, and palate breadth and length for the vintage. We think these elements are what pinot noir is all about--not as big and macho as we can make it, but as beautiful and feminine as we can make it. Its balance makes it optimally ageable. NOTE: beginning in this vintage, we give Patrice RION his name back, having thanked him for 8 vintages for help he gave in the mid 90s by naming this wine for him-his new negociant brand would seem to benefit from fewer Rions in the marketplace. Thanks again, Patrice. The Vineyard To date, our Reserve has used fruit exclusively Ridgecrest Vineyards, our oldest estate vineyard, 37 acres vineyard on a 72 acre property. Beginning in 1980, this site pioneered grapegrowing on Ribbon Ridge, a small ridge on the western end of the Chehalem Mountains. Soils are a Willakenzie soil called Wellsdale, a transition soil series exhibiting characteristics of both volcanic and ocean sedimentary underlying structures. The rich, supple black cherry and blackberry fruits are characteristic of Ridgecrest Vineyards and the Willakenzie soil type. Excellent acidity, silky texture and a long finish are hallmarks of the vineyard site, being relatively high in elevation, mature in vine age and deeply rooted. The Vintage 2002 is an amazing vintage, characterized by an early, warm growing season, a spurt of rain prior to the harvest period that served to stabilize sugars, acids and pHs, and a dry, long harvest period with cool-to-moderate temperatures that allowed us to pick at precisely timed points for ultimate ripeness. For example, Pinot noir was picked over a full month, from September 26 through October 26. Healthy croploads permitted full ripeness over this extended harvest, with excellent concentration and retained acidities. (For more, see the Spring 2004 newsletter feature article, The 2002 Vintage, As Good As They Say?) Winemaker's Comments From a great vintage, the ultimate feminine Pinot noir. There is intense red and black fruit, with raspberry, cherry, black cherry, blackberry and even huckleberry fruit complexity-think cobbler with spice and acid. It is elegantly textured, with tannin so fine it is satin, and a plush richness that presents velvet impressions. There is acid brightness from the long cool ripening; power and depth in alcohol and polysaccharide fullness; balance is as good as I've done, so it is very ageable. |
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